Rashida Jones calls out Pixar's poor track record with female directors

It's hardly news that Hollywood tends to favor white men, to the exclusion of everyone else. And Rashida Jones is done putting up with it.

Jones called out Pixar's lack of diversity in an interview with Net-a-Porter, while explaining why she and writing partner Will McCormack left Toy Story 4 last year.

Describing the situation as "complicated," Jones said:

You look at [Pixar’s] track record and it was one woman directing one film in 25 years, and she was fired. But that doesn’t look different from most studios in Hollywood. All I can be is myself, and speak up and be honest when I feel things don’t reflect the world as it today. As a corporation, you will be held accountable.

The one female director Jones is referring to is Brenda Chapman, who was to be Pixar's first female director before she was taken off of Brave and replaced by Mark Andrews.

While Jones did not go into further detail about her experience at Pixar, her comments echo the statement she and McCormack issued last November, when they decided to depart the project.

At the time, the pair were pushing back against a Hollywood Reporter article claiming they'd left due to an unwanted advance made on Jones by now-disgraced Pixar chief John Lasseter.

That statement read:

We parted ways because of creative and, more importantly, philosophical differences. There is so much talent at Pixar, and we remain enormous fans of their films. However, it is also a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice.

A look at Pixar's future releases indicates that the studio won't be breaking its all-male director streak anytime soon. Upcoming titles include Incredibles 2, directed by Brad Bird; Toy Story 4, directed by Josh Cooley; and an untitled suburban fantasy film, directed by Dan Scanlon.

On the other hand, the studio is getting its first female-helmed short this summer: Bao, from Domee Shi. Maybe change is coming for the studio, even if it's a lot more slowly than we'd like.